Year 21, Week 10, Day Two (week 1104) 03-20-21 Saturday

  Year 21, Week 10, Day Two (week 1104) 

 (January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)

03-20-21 Saturday

60 degrees as the early morning low, 70 when I got outside, a momentary high of 78. The clouds were drifting by, scattered, broken, clear, shifting on and off. The weather report suggested possible showers after one. We never got any which made it really nice. This weather report is brought to you by The City Of Pompano Beach Department Of Tourism. 

I stopped at Mom’s to get a bolt to copy and then I headed out. I got the replacement bolts for the dolly/furniture mover. Those ACE / TRUE-VALUE stores are so nice. They are small but they have the right stuff. 

I then followed part of my yard sale path north, then dropped down to the Northern Aldi’s (for my area).  There is one south of me too. I went in for just one thing. Experience has shown me that if you enter a store for one thing get a shopping cart.  After spending $50 I left ALSO with that one thing... While I was at it, I picked up some stuff I really did not need to get, but they leaped into the shopping cart and hung on tight. I had a choice of taking them home or leaving with nothing.

I went back north and caught the north end of my yard sale route on the Eastern side of the highway US-1. Heading south, I found 2 yard sales. One was big, had loads of stuff. I walked around it a few times and ended up leaving empty handed. They had a portable drill press that has an electromagnet in the base. This thing weighs a ton but will do the job if you need it. It has a 3/4 inch chuck which is kind of rare. Using the electromagnets in the base, you attach it to metal and then you can do chin-ups on it. His dad worked on water towers. He said that it was a pain to get lined up, but it drilled a good straight hole. He wanted a nice price for it. I have no use for it, but my brother might be able to use it. I chose not to get it. I did not have that kind of money on me anyway.  He also had a metal steam engine, O scale I think. I considered getting it for mom but she could only put it on display, not use it. She has a different scale track, as I do also. There was a plastic diesel engine also. 

The second yard sale was small, and they have had yard sales before. I ended up buying a knitting book for a dollar. I am not yet trying to learn knitting, but the book looked good. Sometimes you just need ideas. 

I got out back and added new bolts and nuts to the dolly / furniture mover and cinched them up tight. That one is good for a long time now. I took the old bolts I had and fixed the ends so the nuts can go on them now, and then worked the nuts to near the head and back out again, adding cutting oil in order to clean some of the rust from the threads. They are now ready for a new project .

I think I should crochet dresses for the new dolly..... <g>

I accomplished little after that. I looked at the bandsaw and could not find where the tip was adjusted. I put the blade back on and did not set it as tight as I was. I did a little bit of cutting and it stayed on. Will have to see. I am beginning to think that I was just adding too much pressure on the wheel. It does not have to be cranked as tight as you can tighten it.

During the week, Mom had trimmed the Clerodendron and had trimmed off some of the thick trunk at the top and saved some of it for me.  Next year this time, it will be just as tall as it grows like a weed. I took a smaller piece and put it in the lathe and started making a daffodil. It came off the lathe and by then I needed to sit down. It is way too rough, some material is removed but have more to do before I can start carving it. This is a soft wood. You can break the small branches by hand easily. It is stronger that balsa but weaker than pine  My plan was to rough out several from the same piece of wood, cut them off, before I then carve them. 

By the time I was ready to get up again, I decided it was late enough to pack up everything.  I sat with mom and talked for a while, then left there about 5:30.

Year 21, Week 10, Day Two (week 1104) 

 (January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)

03-21-21 Sunday

59 degrees early morning, 63 when I got outside, The wind was from the right direction  and it was in mid 70s, shifting from high overcast to blue sky and back again off and on.  It was really nice to be outside. This weather report is brought to you by The City Of Pompano Beach Department Of Tourism. 

I stopped to gas up on the way to Mom’s and then drove north up the East side of highway US-1 like I did for yard sales years ago. No sales, but it was a nice drive. They’ve been working on the bridges for years and the southern one in this section was now under construction.  Yesterday I drove South on the East side of Highway US-1 from the North end which is Hillsboro Blvd., and ended my drive mid way, which is where mom is, and today I stopped mid way heading north.  There is only one section I did not hit and that is just south of Mom’s house. 

Yesterday I took a piece of the Clarodendron wood mom gave me that I started turning for a daffodil and worked on it today. It cracked a little last night. I made a second one below it on the wood. Then cut them off. On one, a chunk of the bell broke off. Once I got to the table. I later tossed that one. I did do some carving on one and got a good start. I put it in a clamp and glued the crack in the bell. 

For those who have not looked at a daffodil, they can be described as having a platter of individual petals with a frilled cup sitting in the middle. I carved the leaves using the dremmel, some higher than others, and then frilled the lip of the cup. Not horrible. I can do better, but it is a good start.

While my brother was here, I got the knives very close to being useable by grinding on finer and finer stones. They need just a little more work to become sharp enough. They will cut but not well. To be good carving knives, they need to be sharp enough to shave with, though few if any of my knives are really that sharp.

Other than talking about videos we had seen, and projects we worked on. I accomplished little more. It is hard to make noise and talk at the same time, especially if you are concentrating on what you are doing. 

After my brother left , I swept “at” the whole area. There was shaving and sawdust from the past month or so of work, along with leaves that accumulated in the corners blown there by the wind. I got the worst of that today. I could have done better. I’ve been lazy and not cleaning up for quite a while. I still left a lot of stuff because I was too lazy to move things, but it was so much better than it was. 

I have a number of projects I need to work on. I am still thinking of doing car and truck style Christmas ornaments this year. It would be a good time to get started on that. I have another puppy bouquet to make. All the materials are there and I have learned so much more since I made the first one. I have that bowl I want to carve up. I would like to get that done soon. I also want to make some daffodil flowers. I had made foil flowers and I figure I can replace the really bad ones with these flowers. While I am at it, I could make tulips again. I did that many years ago, making them from broken goblets I was making. I have another egg that needs to be carved also. 

I will have to see what happens next week. 

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Both rebuilt dollies / furniture mover.  the long one I finished today

the magnetic drill press. 

My brother said he could think of two jobs last year he might have used it.

rough daffodil

I disassembled an electric tooth brush

the complete one only had on when you put the batteries in.

the one I took apart would not work at all. too much corrosion on the engine contact.

I cut off the plastic switch on the other one and now it does not want to run either.

daffodil blank that broke.

markings for carving the bowl

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Year 21, Week 09, Day One (week 1103) 03-13-21 Saturday

  Year 21, Week 09, Day One (week 1103) 

 (January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)

03-13-21 Saturday

The day was in the 70s all day long, low 70s in the morning, high 70s in the afternoon, with a breeze coming in under the awning. The awning is on the north west side of the house. So the wind was likely coming from the North East.  A good number of times, I needed to get up to do something, and did not want to move because it was so nice just sitting there. I could well have settled in a lounge chair and just stayed put all day. The birds were singing up a storm and the clouds were big puffs drifting by. I don’t remember the sun dimming from a cloud passing in front of it, but it may have. I was not paying that much attention to the weather itself.  If it stayed this way all year long, I would not complain. This weather report is brought to you by The City Of Pompano Beach Department Of Tourism. 

I made a quick dash to a nearby store to get some peppermint tea. This is just peppermint leaves. The brand I like had a little note in it saying that because of Covid, the supplier of their tags were unable to supply them. The tea bags are tag-less this time.  Just a small bother fishing it out of the cup.

I stopped at a yard sale. They had furniture galore, they had a two sided sandwich grill like what a restaurant would use. A good quality powered meat-grinder, wheel chairs, dressers chairs, etc.  It was big. There were a few things I considered getting. I left with just a hose real. The woman said this stuff was just from purchases over the years. She had to sell today. That was the third yard sale I’ve seen so far since this time last year. 

I got out back and laid things out, drew on the bowl I pierced last week. My original design was long thin leaves with a vine running around just below the lip of the bowl. I basically copied the design, making the leaves longer and running along the edges of the holes. I was not enamored with the design, so I set it to the side.

I decided to make handles for the knife blades I’ve been working on. This is Honduran Mahogany, the brown stuff furniture is made from. These pieces feel like a good quality solidod.

My band saw has a problem and I have not figured out what the solution is. The blade moves forward and then falls off. I got the blades back on the wheel, and cut some wood and the blade would move back where it is supposed to be while cutting, then leap forward and slip off the wheel. What I am going to have to do is examine the mechanism carefully and find the setting for the tipping of the wheel. I have not seen it so it will take some study. 

Because the bandsaw was not working I used my dremel and a saw blade I had gotten from harbor freight. The saw blades was a set of five. And I was using the second to the largest size blade. It did the job of cutting the wood. It took a little time with each cut and working it down, and I had to cut it from both sides as the wood was thicker than the blade. 

I had forgotten something about the dremel. It had happened to me with the burr bit with long spikes two weeks ago. The saw skipped off the end of the wood and ran down the end of the wood and back up beneath the wood and hit my finger. My finger bled nicely. My dad would sometimes cut himself and keep carving, but this had a good flow. It was not deep and it really did not hurt. I guess it missed the nerves. I went in put a band aid on it, and it stung a little for about two minutes and then I forgot about it and went back to work. 

When working with bits that are aggressive, such as burrs with long teeth, saw blades, etc., if you are not wearing protective gloves, and even when you are, it is best to have the work up against something so the bit cannot get below the project and bite you.  The top of the blade is coming toward you and the bottom is trying to pull the dremel into you. You are pushing the dremel down and away from you or at least holding it in place. When the bit slips, your arm will push it off the work. The bit will then catch the end as it goes off and pull itself back at you from underneath.

After that, I had the end of the wood down on the table edge so that if the bit slipped, it would hit the table first. 

The handles I made need some adjustments, but they feel fairly good to the hand. A lot of commercial made knife handles are thin side to side, and thick top to bottom. I found those to be a bit hard on the hand when carving a lot or applying a lot of pressure. The knife handles my dad made and taught me to make, are flat-ish on top, thick side to side and thin top to bottom. This shape allows you to apply a lot of pressure into the blade if needed. I try to make my blades a constant angle from back to edge, with the back as wide as the material allows. My blades are also very long compared to most blades. The thick back allows me to put pressure on the blade itself when working at the end without hurting my hand. 

I got the blades into the handles. I simply drove them in without glue.  While I was at the grinder, adjusting the shape of one blade, and the blade started slipping out. I added glue and drove that blade in again. I should pull the other blades out and glue them in also. I likely will wait until they start coming out.

These mahogany handles seems to be working. It has different properties than the mystery wood I used before and seems to not split near as bad. I now have to make sheaths for the blades and adjust the shape of the handles, and sand and then give them a coat of varnish and they will be done. 

I finished at about three, packed up and sat with mom until four, then went home.

Year 21, Week 09, Day Two (week 1103) 

 (January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)

03-14-21 Sunday

We had a light breeze coming under the awning in the morning and it made it nice. By the time I got out there, which was about ten, it was already in the 80s. The wind was cool, though. I enjoyed hearing the birds sing, at least until I was concentrating on what I was doing and I didn’t notice them any more. This weather report is brought to you by The City Of Pompano Beach Department Of Tourism. 

I had seen mom’s other furniture mover(dolly) out back so today, I went to gas up, then went to Home Depot and after some searching, and asking for directions, I found some fence boards. They were fairly cheep ($1.70 each) and were about the right size. I got three of them. 

I took them out back mom’s house and a bit later, I carried the furniture mover under the awning. I disassembled it and found that the two long boards were still in good condition. The cross boards, which has carpets, were in bad condition (I guess they stayed wet longer and the bugs liked them more) so I decided to just replace those. I had already cut the boards when my brother came and was getting ready to drill the holes in them. I was just going to drill both boards using an old one as a template by holding them with my hands, but he said to use a clamp. After lunch I started assembly. A lot of nuts were missing. When I grabbed if from outback.  I was able, with some work, get two bolts and nuts per corner, holding the wheels on. I have to go buy more nuts and bolts, I could rescue the bolts by grinding off the last couple threads (pounded them out with a hammer without a board to protect them and damaged the ends of the threads), but will get new ones anyway. What was surprising was that this came together really easy. I need to tighten the nuts I already have on there, and it really needs four bolts per wheel rather than two. But it is about ready to be used.

I am beginning to worry about myself. I am repairing things. I am not supposed to be able to do that. I must be getting old!!!!

I always intend to accomplish more than I do. Fixing that furniture mover was a nice, easy job, if only I could get the nuts on the bolts. I had pounded them out and did the damage to the thread. I should have stuck a board over them to take the damage, but did not think about it. It was a fun project. 

I also sharpened on my scissor knives and they are getting there. I have to start with a finer grit stone now. The shape is pretty good. I have no idea how these blades will hold up in use. I am thinking they will be mostly be utility knives, cutting all sorts of things, rather than for carving. They might not hold an edge. My brother examined them carefully. One had a curve to the blade rather than being flat like I was after. He said that one will hold the edge better. That roundness was caused by my applying more pressure towards the edge rather than straight down. 

 I had brought one of those folding coffee tables from the home. This one is metal. I have found that you could always use just a little more room when you are working. I put it at the closed end of my area and my drink, my electric plugs, and some tools there to be out of the way. It is working pretty good.

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my knives with handle blank laying on their side

knives with handle blank sitting on their tummys. 

These are the dollies / furniture movers that I rebuilt. the long one was today. 

the short one was last year and shows my training by Laurel and Hardy, along with the Three Stooges.

I had not realized the wheels were wider than the boards I bought, until I stated assembly, 

and had to add fillers for the wheel bolts to fit right. 

Year 21, Week 08, Day One (week 1102) 03-08-21 Saturday

  Year 21, Week 08, Day One (week 1102) 

 (January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)

03-08-21 Saturday

Mixed sky, mid 70s. Showers predicted did not come. A steady breeze with strong gusts.  This weather report is brought to you by The City Of Pompano Beach Department Of Tourism. 

Mom’s birthday was fairly recent and I did not get anything for Valentine’s day. While at the grocery store, I saw some daffodils in a pot. I think these are actually narcissus which tend to be smaller than normal daffodils. These are really small blossoms. 

Daffodil are my favorite flower. I had to buy these. After I had them in my cart, I realized I needed to give it to Mom and let her take care of it. I am good at killing plants. They have to really want to live for them to survive my care. I gave them to Mom and I got a hug out of it. 

Mom’s rocker bench broke. I made the decision to repair it.  Remember, I am a proud student of Laurel and Hardy, and the Three Stooges. I think I am one of their best students.

I used the furniture roller I made to help move it from the front yard to the back yard by my self. It worked. I put the broken end on the roller and dragged it back. I then set up the smaller of my folding tables with the fly leafs down. I set the bench upside down on the table and examined the damage. It was far smaller than I expected. 

A thin piece of wood broke off the face of the board, and the tenons slipped out. I could put the board back in place. I needed to work out the best way to repair it properly. I sat and examined it, and decided that arms that allow the seat to rock, had to come off. With some careful work using big screw drivers and a pair of plyers, I got the screws off and the arms off. 

I now had the board to work with. I thought about it a while and decided to glue and screw the thing piece of wood back on, and I saw a crack on the other end where it was splitting in half. 

I glued the thin board in place and clamped it in place using a board over it to give even pressure over the length, and forced glue into the crack on the other end and clamped that tight. A bit later, after the glue was set enough, I drove brads into the wood to lock the crack and the broken face in place. 

Now I had to decide how to put it back together. I decided I should run a screw into the end of the tenon. I first drew on the board where the tenon was exactly, both on the sides and on the end. I then got the idea that to have a hole in the center of the tenon, I could drill through the inside of the mortice (the hole) and get it nicely centered. I used my little drill press, which is a hand drill in a craftsman drill press assembly. That worked nice. I also did a hole where a screw would go into the shoulders of the tenon.

I showed Mom what I was doing and she said to use gorilla glue. She got it out of the house and I had to drill through the top of the set-up glue in the bottle to get to stuff I could use. I then used a dowel to get the working glue out. I covered the inside of the mortice, the surfaces of the tenon. Mom then said, You have to coat it with water. I took the board with the mortice, plugged the holes with my fingers and mom poured water into them. I then dumped it over the tenons and put the board in place. I needed to clamp it, so I ran in screws into the four holes I drilled and figured that was a good enough clamp. I left it over night to set completely. 

The swing arms, which are shaped sheet metal with a bearing in it, was bent. I needed to straighten it. I considered pounding it, using plyers, then I decided to first try the vice. I put the whole thing into the vise and cranked it tight. That got rid of the worst of the bend. I then set just the sheet metal edge in the vise jaw and cranked it close. I turned it over and did it again and now the angle of the bearing matched the other end. I did it to the other one too. They matched the pair on the opposite side of the bench, just a slight angle of the bearing. 

Each step of the way, I thought about what I was going to do and how to best do it. So far it was working well. 

While waiting, I took the camphor bowl I was cleaning last. I had the idea of carving a dragon on it, but then decided that unless I had several dragons, or a Chinese dragon which is something like a snake with legs, It was going to be a bit too much work for what up to doing. I chose thin long leaves.  I first divided it in 18 spaces around the outside, and then drew angled lines starting on the bottom and going to the top two lines over. I went all the way around with that, then did the same thing on the opposite angle. Looking at it, I decided I should do a vine running around the bowl near the top, looping around in the spaces between the pair of leaves. 

I was satisfied with what I had, I took out some green paint and rough painted the areas that would be carved out. I set that to the side and let it dry. 

I decided to leave everything till tomorrow, which was good as it was already three in the afternoon. A good time to stop. 

I will see what I do tomorrow. 

Year 21, Week 08, Day One (week 1102) 

 (January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)

03-08-21 Saturday

Mixed cloudy sky with lots of sun, Clouds built up almost solid as the afternoon aged. mid 70s. Brisk wind, blowing paper around.  This weather report is brought to you by The City Of Pompano Beach Department Of Tourism. 

I addressed the bench, starting to assemble it. I had to cut away where the Gorilla glue  foamed out, and hit it lightly with sandpaper. It looked like it is not going anywhere. I ran some screws into the side of the tenon so there is no way it is coming out.

I worked oil into the bearings. Then I made sure the bolts and screws were clean. I found that one bolt had stripped threads on the end so I went to the grinder and removed a few threads so the nut would go on properly. 

I got everything adjusted, and then sprayed the damaged areas with white paint. I then painted some other areas. I set the bench out into the sun and let it dry. Drips of paint was still a little damp several hours later. I then brought the bench back out front and told Mom to not sit on it until tomorrow so the paint will be fully dry. The whole thing should be painted, and I had bought the paint but I just did the underside and then concentrated on places that looked like it could use extra protection. 

I decided I would start grinding on the bowl I painted on yesterday. I should note that years ago, I had used filler to patch a break on the rim, I had partially mixed two colors of wood filler and then made it flush with the rest of the wood. Moving something, I knocked the bowl on the ground and most of that filler broke out. I now had to decide how to deal with that.

I made the decision to scallop the upper edge. I needed to find the right sized curve. I settled on using a paper towel tube as my radius. I still had the lines on the bowl showing where I divided it, so starting where the chip had come out, I evenly spaced the curves all the way around. I then needed to do the opposite curve. I had to squeeze the tube a few places between my curves to make them fit as they were not exactly right. 

Now I decided to commit myself. I took my dremmel with my really aggressive burr bit. That bit is sort like a tear drop with the shaft stuck to the wide end. It has comparatively long spikes sticking out. It is more aggressive than most if my other bits, which is why I like it. It also likes hands. 

I ground and drilled my way through the wood, rocking it back and forth until I made it through. I first did the space between the leaves near the base and went all the way around. I then bored out the space near where the leaves crossed which was like a heart, then drilled a round hole where the loop of the vine was located. 

I then bore out the scallops around the edge, and then slightly rounded the corners at the top of the lip. Even old camphor wood smells good when you grind it. Not really strong, but still could smell it. 

When I was done, I liked what I had. The pattern of holes looked nice. I will have a lot more wood to remove to get to the leaves, but I had a start of the holes. I decided I would remove all my other  markings, including the paint, and redraw the leaves all over again based on the holes I have. 

I was reminded that paint does not come off as easy as you think. You have to remember that, when sanding paint and pencil markings. Tip the work so the dust falls off the work, rather than back on. The powder of paint and pencil into the grain of the wood and force you to sand even more to remove it. I happened to remember that and sanded mostly with the bowl on the side. 

When I decided to stop, I still had some green stain on the wood, but have the worst of it gone. I do like the way the bowl looks. 

It is best to have the bowl as thin as possible. This bowl is the proper thickness by the rim, but gets really thick near the foot. I will use that to my advantage by achieving more depth between the layers of the leaves. I am after a three dimensional carving on this. 

My brother had to work so I stayed to my own projects. I finished packing up and everything put away and was really happy at my results. In every case, I just sat and thought out what I was going to do before I did it, and had good results. That is a big surprise as I had not done much repair work. 

I will see what I do next week. 

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Daffodil for Mom. my favorite kind of flower.

The painted pattern on the outside of the bowl. the wood color remains.

I had a vine running around the bowl near the top as it needed something there.

The bottom of the bench with tenons sticking out.

The cut bowl with the chip on the edge.

the chip had been filled with mixed color wood filler

I dropped the bowl and broke it off

Scalloped edges of the bowl, hiding the lost chip

The underside of the bowl partially sanded. I sanded more of the paint off later.

The repaired rocking bench.

Year 21, Week 07, Day One (week 1101) 02-27-21 Saturday

  Year 21, Week 07, Day One (week 1101) 

 (January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)

02-27-21 Saturday

75 degrees early morning low, 82 high, some to few clouds, lots of Sun, moderate humidity with a brisk wind. This weather report is brought to you by The City Of Pompano Beach Department Of Tourism. 

Yesterday I had plans for a number of projects.  I stopped at the grocery store on the way to Mom’s to pick up some stuff I needed. I like shopping at a small independent grocery store, but find myself going to the big local chain more and more as they have stuff the small store does not have, even if it is more expensive...

Today, I mainly sanded. I’ve told you other weeks that I hate sanding, but for some strange reason, I sat and sanded. I ran across a bowl that turned out to be Camphor. This bowl was an early project and was originally made on a faceplate as there are four tiny screw holes on the flat bottom. The inside was rough and raw wood, and I have an idea that I had put it on the lathe and cut the inside thinner. The outside had varnish. 

I’ve decided I am going to carve and pierce this into a leaf bowl. It is best to start the carving with the surface near finished condition. It does not need varnish, but should be sanded to about what one would finish. It makes it a bit easier if some of it does not need sanding. This bowl has a spot where the lip had chipped and I added multi colored filler to that spot. 

After I sanded it fairly good, I marked down from the lip about three quarters of an inch with a pencil. I had made one of these years ago and it was really delicate. It also was in Camphor. Camphor is not a really strong wood. Oak of maple would be best for this but I don’t have those woods. 

I decided having a good lip will make it a bit stronger. The center where the foot is will be solid also. Now I have to figure out what shape I am going to use to carve onto it. It has to be the right scale for the space I am working with. 

I sanded the apples I finished last week with 400 grit sand paper and spray varnished them. I gave them several coats. They need a bit more clean up but look pretty good. Much better than they had before.

I also lightly sanded and re-varnished the bowl made by someone else. It looks pretty good. It could use more sanding and varnish, but it looks pretty good now. I like it much better than it was when I got it. 

The bowl I modified the foot on needed to have some glue spots cleaned up. I sanded them well, then ended up sanding the whole bowl down almost to the wood. It needs more grits of sandpaper before it should be varnished again. I can see scores from the sandpaper I’ve used so far so it needs more careful sanding. 

I had laying nearby a piece of wood with a branch sticking out of it. I though it might be a good test of what I learned on making a tea pot from my first attempt. This one would be made much the same way, but not making the same mistakes. 

The top was cut on a sharp angle and the spout was on a sharp angle too. I bandsawed the top and while it was closer to straight, it was still on an angle. I mounted it on the lathe so the bottom and top were parallel and cut the top almost flat. The point of the tail stock limited my getting it absolutely flat. I then marked a bit closer to the spout with the tool and then bandsawed along the line it made. That piece cut off might be the lid. If it is not, I have more of the same wood to work with. 

I used my knife to remove the bark and some knobs here and there. What I need to do now is to get out my drill and bore out the main hole and the hole for the spout. I will then mount it on the lathe and hollow it out properly. This is a strong wood so I want to remove the worst of the wood before I finish the hollowing on the lathe. 

I saw a pair of mocking birds fighting over territory. I have no idea which one, but one had gone onto a wire and sang a little, then another showed up and they starting fighting, their fight went behind some trees and I did not see what happened. I did not hear either one after that.

I worked a bit on those scissors blades that I am making into knives. I got the angle more like what I am after, but have to remove more metal before I can take them to the hand stones. I would grind a bit and when the metal where I was holding them started feeling warm, I would swap to the other. I did that a couple times and then stopped, letting them cool. I will do more tomorrow. 

One blade had a sharp angle to the handle. I had removed that, making this a shorter knife blade. There is the hole where the two blades hinged. On both of them, the tang that goes into the handle is ground past that hole. On the short blade, I ground it farther past the hole so the handle will have more to grab onto.

When I usually make my knives, I use a one piece, piece of wood and cut a slot and drill a hole to give room for the metal, and drive the tang of the blade into that. When I make the sheaths, I will have two pieces of wood and will mark around the blade, and then carve some of the wood out of one side and glue them together. When you stick the blade in, it fits pretty good, though a few times, the knife did not go all the way in for one reason or another.

The thought crossed my mind to make the handle in two pieces and carve around the spot where the hole is and use that nob to hold the blade in place. I doubt I will do that.  I was going to say I did the handles that way too, then remembered I only do that for the sheaths. They don’t get as much force as the handles gets. 

I did not feel like I accomplished much, but after writing this down, I did quite a bit. I hope to be even more productive tomorrow. 

I will see what happens. 

Year 21, Week 07, Day Two (week 1101) 

 (January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)

02-28-21 Sunday

75 degrees early morning low, 82 high, Indian Clouds (Apache), then at about three a few puppy dog clouds zipped by and lifted their legs and then left.  lots of Sun, moderate humidity (in the 70s) with a brisk wind well blocked by the house so I had to use the fan. This weather report is brought to you by The City Of Pompano Beach Department Of Tourism. 

I took my Christmas out of the house and set it next to the garbage can to go out on garbage day. I had pulled the red bows off the tree and put them in a popcorn can. I changed them from that to the coffee can sized can back into the big one. Since it was all that was in it, I put them in the small can, then set the small can in the larger popcorn can. Next year, I might need the small can also. Since it already says ornaments on top, I will keep it.

When I got out to Mom’s house, I painted ORNAMENTS on my two full ornament cans. The one with the bow had it already written on the lid. Back in the 80s, I had taken sign painting and calligraphy and have since forgot most of it. It requires eye hand coordination and muscle memory, and I was bad with the eye hand coordination back then, and I have none of the muscle memory. The cans are lettered, on the sides and on the top so I will know what they are when I see them in six months to a year from now. 

I started working on those two scissor blades that I am making into a knife. The short blade needs a lot of work, even after I put it to the grinder, which I need to do some more.  The long one was coming in nice. I worked mainly on the long one, using the 180 grit diamond stone and just ground and ground. It took some time but, because I had a good angle on it from the grinder, I was able to get it close to where it needs to be. 

I decided to try to make a new handle. I took one knife I had and was cutting on a piece of that mystery wood I got from work, that I have used for many projects. One of the knives I was looking suddenly bent in the handle. I pulled and it came out. The wood broke.

I cut a slot, then drilled a hole for the tang in the new handle I was making. I had made it wrong, cutting away too much wood. I trimmed the snout of the old knife handle, sanded it, and then opened up the hole for the blade tang a little more. I then drove both blades into the handles. 

The handles split. That is when I realized that, One, I was driving the short blade into the new handle, not that there would have been a difference. Two, I was using that mystery wood for both handles (old one was made of it) and it can be split fairly easily. 

My best handles were in something called BISHOP’S WOOD. I am out of that. I also used black walnut. I don’t have good pieces. I also have used Mahogany. These have all done fairly well. I do have mahogany so I guess that is what I am going to be using instead of the mystery wood. That will be for next week I think.

I had a tray of screws and nails and other things. A while back I had sorted it. I stopped at a store after leaving the gas station this morning and they had a pack of 10 lunch containers for five bucks. These are two section containers. I took that tray out and sorted again the contents, putting them into different containers and different sections of the containers. 

Instead of one open tray, they are now in 9 separate containers, a bit better sorted. I have one container left empty. Will use that later. While the containers might not survive well outside, their contents are no longer outside in the weather and even easier to see where what is at. They really should be in glass jars hanging from a shelf in the garage or work shop, but this will do well for now.

I was in the process of already cleaning up, putting things away when we noticed the sky became grey and misty. Soon I was smelling rain, the wet dust being kicked up. I was putting my basket away when it was sprinkling on us, but it never became hard. It was a heavy mist for the most part. It came down just enough to wet the pavement before it was gone, about ten minutes total. Radar showed some east-west dots moving over us heading north. 

I did not accomplish a whole lot this weekend, but I enjoyed being outside. I got some work done that I wanted to do and (sanding) that I did not really want to do but seemed to be the right thing to do at the time. 

I hope to be more productive next week, but will have to see what happens. 

2063

bowl and apple I sanded

bottom of bowl and apples.

screws being transferred into lunch containers.

the blades. the middle one was a blade I had on a knife where the handle cracked. 

The other two are from scissors.